Don't Think

One of the best bits of advice I’ve ever
received was from my high school French teacher.In the upper left hand corner of the
blackboard, in small letters, he had written “Don’t Think” at the beginning of
the year.I was a little intimidated by
him (he had a reputation for throwing chalk at students who weren’t paying
attention) so it took me awhile to ask him what he meant by the phrase.

He said that your brain tends to get in the
way of what your mind really knows when you’re trying to master something
new.With a few additional years of
wisdom under my belt since then, I realize what powerful advice it is.Not only does your brain get in the way of
what your mind knows, it also gets in the way of what your body knows, and
that’s when you can get into serious trouble.

Your body has an innate wisdom.My friend Dave knows this:one of the first times we met, we were
talking about how to make an important decision.Dave said, “Flip a coin.Seriously, it works every time.Not because you necessarily follow the head
or the tail, but because your body will let you know if it’s the right decision.”I’ve used that method many times over the
past several years, and it works every time.

There is actually a bundle of nerves deep in
your gut that is considered by scientists to be a second brain.First documented in the 19thcentury, it was rediscovered by Michael Gershorn at the University of Columbia.Studies have shown that this
‘second’ brain is actually a first responder, although the brain in the head
will take credit for any positive results.This scientific evidence of nerves in the gut that have an innate wisdom
may give people permission to trust their gut instincts more.

For women trying to decide whether they
should stay or go in their relationship, “don’t think” can be taken even
further.Other studies have shown that
when we let our brain get involved in a decision making process that is
emotional in nature, it causes trouble.Over analyzing an emotional situation can lead from reason to
rationalization.Reason relies on hard
facts and logic, but when strong emotions are involved we tend to rationalize
to make our situation more tolerable.Letting your brain lead the way in emotional decisions may keep you from
moving forward or even cause you to move backwards.

When I teach twisting poses in yoga to
students, I remind them to begin the twist from the low belly (the gut) then
let the heart follow, and finally to align the head with the heart and the
gut.I often say, “Just like with life,
the head always wants to lead the way.That doesn’t feel good, so keep your head in line with your heart.”As with yoga, so it is with life. The best
strategy when making tough decisions that are twisting you up is to align your
head with your heart and your gut.Lead
with your gut then follow your heart.Let your head take care of all the details once the big decision has
been made. Or to say it more simply,
“Don’t Think.”